Israel allowed to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday welcomed Israel allowed to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza.
However, he demanded concrete “results” in the “coming days and weeks”.
In the meantime that humanitarian aid in Gaza is allowed to increase, from the UN a resolution was raised to prevent Israel from receiving more military weapons.
“These are steps in the right direction, but the real test is the results and this is what we expect to see in the coming days and weeks,” Blinken told reporters in the Belgian city of Leuven.
Israel said it will allow increased humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Ashdod port in southern Israel, as well as through the Erez crossing, which directly accesses the northern Gaza Strip, in addition to increasing the flow of aid from Jordan entering through the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.
This follows a call yesterday between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Blinken also noted that it is critical that a “full independent investigation into the death of the (NGO) World Central Kitchen team, who were carrying out heroic work in the face of the most difficult circumstances” be conducted.
“The proof lies in the results,” insisted the head of U.S. diplomacy, and in this regard, stressed the need for humanitarian aid trucks to be allowed to enter “steadily” through the border crossings and to be distributed throughout Gaza, including the north of the Strip.
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Israel allowed to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza: Small crossings
Also, after allowing increased humanitarian aid into Gaza, Israel was asked to take steps to reverse the risk of famine that “affects almost 100%” of the Strip’s population.
“Israel’s obligation, its responsibility, is to protect civilians as much as possible, to make this a priority. This is also a fundamental test,” Blinken said.
Biden yesterday called on Netanyahu for effective measures to protect the population and guarantee the entry of humanitarian aid and told him that if he did not do so, the United States would change its policy toward Israel, whose main ally it is.
Israel will also allow increased humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Erez crossing point in the north of the famine-threatened Palestinian territory, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Friday.
The announcement follows a call between Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden, who for the first time conditioned his support for Israel on the protection of Palestinian civilians.
The war cabinet authorized the Israeli government to “take immediate steps to increase humanitarian aid to the civilian population of the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said. This “will prevent a humanitarian crisis and is necessary to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the objectives of the war,” it argued.
In the statement allowing for increased humanitarian aid in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s office explains that they will authorize aid access through the Israeli port of Ashdod, some 35 km by road from Gaza, and the Erez crossing point, located in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
In turn, the White House urged Israel to open “quickly and fully” the new routes for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip that were offered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after a warning from U.S. President Joe Biden.
